Paradise Lost in Slow Motion | Spring 2024

Join a free lecture and discussion course on John Milton's Paradise Lost hosted by the @AntrimLiteratureProject

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This course encourages slow, careful, deliberate readings of John Milton’s Paradise Lost. Reading one book per week, we’ll complete Milton’s epic in one semester. Weekly meetings will consist of a lecture (30 minutes), Q&A (15 minutes), and discussion and reflection on key passages (30 minutes). Students will be encouraged to keep a reading journal, to memorize and copy out favorite passages, to read aloud, and to share thoughts and ask questions. Without an overarching focus (such as politics, history, theology, etc.), this course invites students to come with their own interests and questions –OR–to use this as an opportunity to encounter Paradise Lost for the first time through close reading, community, and conversation.

Anyone—regardless of age, background, or education—will be warmly received. Participation is welcome but not necessary. A basic competency in reading English is required.

Meetings occur every Wednesday at 6PM EST from February 7 to May 1st.

Works Cited (and inspired by the following):

Brower, Reuben A., "Reading in Slow Motion," In Defense of Reading: A Reader’s Approach to Literary Criticism, eds. Reuben A. Brower and Richard Poirier, E.P. Dutton & Co., Inc, New York, NY, 1962, 3-5 (reprint).

de Man, Paul, "The Return to Philology." The Resistance to Theory. Minneapolis: U of Minnesota Press, 1986, 3-21.

Garber, Marjorie. “Shakespeare in Slow Motion,” Profession, 2010 (2010), 151-164.

Vendler, Helen. “What We Have Loved,” Teaching Literature: What Is Needed Now, eds. James Engell and David Perkins, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1988, 19.


Introduction: 0:00-0:53
About the Course 0:53-2:55
Why "Slow Motion"? 2:55-3:51
Analysis of Lines 1-6, Book I 3:51-13:48
Conclusion 13:49-14:54